The impact of high dose oral cotrimoxazole in patients with COVID-19 with hypoxic respiratory failure requiring non-invasive ventilation: A Case Control Study

Singh, S.; John, T.; Kumar, P.; Quadery, S. R.

Background COVID-19 can be fatal in a significant proportion of people who develop critical illness, resulting in hypoxic respiratory failure secondary to Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) which is thought to be mediated by a cytokine storm syndrome. Steroids have been shown to be of some benefit, but the mainstay of treatment remains supportive. Methods The data was collected retrospectively from consecutive, newly diagnosed patients presenting to the critical care facility of I Q City Medical College Hospital, Durgapur, India between June and November 2020 with critical COVID-19 on non-invasive ventilation treated with high dose oral cotrimoxazole (CTX) in addition to standard therapy (ST) and compared with patients with critical COVID-19 receiving standard therapy alone. Results 201 patients were identified. Of which 151 patients received CTX in addition to ST (mean age +/- SD 59 +/- 13 years, 81% male and mean BMI +/- SD 28 +/- 2) and 50 patients received ST alone (mean age +/- SD 63 +/- 12, 64% male and mean BMI +/- SD 27 +/- 2). We observed that the patients with critical COVID-19 receiving CTX in addition to ST had significantly better outcomes including reduced in-patient mortality (13% versus 40%, p <0.001), length of hospital and critical care unit stay (mean, 11 versus 15 days (p <0.001) and 6 versus 11 days (p <0.001) respectively), and the need for mechanical ventilation (16% versus 42%, p <0.001) with improved CRP at day 7 (mean, 38mg/L versus 62mg/L, p = 0.001). Conclusion These results may be due to the antibiotic and anti-cytokine effects of CTX. Clinical trials are currently underway to test our observations.